Time is a precious resource, yet many marketers are inadvertently wasting it–and a significant portion of their budget–on outdated lead gen and engagement strategies. Research from a recent CMO Council report reveals that 62% of marketers say their current approaches are underperforming.

With new strategies and tools and more data available than ever before, that shouldn’t be the case. Change is needed and it must start at the top: CMOs must evolve their approach to maximize efficiency and effectiveness. As the report puts it, marketers “need to embrace a more intelligent model” to succeed at targeting B2B buyers effectively, scaling ABM programs, and increasing business growth overall.

From our experience and our customers’ success, here are 5 of the top resources and tactics that CMOs can use to get ahead and build more actionable intelligence, personalization and engagement into their lead-gen programs in 2024.

Accurate Contact Data: Digital marketing and ABM are only as strong as the data you use to fuel them, and we recommend high-quality third-party data as a proven driver for customer acquisition campaigns. Consider this: first-party data is ideal for connecting with customers you already have, but third-party data lets you identify and reach your ideal prospects at scale—allowing you to extend your lead-gen campaigns well beyond the reach of your existing data.

At OMI, we’ve built our business on high-quality data. We view our third-party B2B data as a Living File® that needs to be regularly maintained and updated and apply ongoing data maintenance and automation to verify the validity of our data (including 140 million contacts with email). Our data always reflects the changing business environment.

Deterministic Intent Data: The buyer landscape has become increasingly complex, with a multitude of stakeholders involved in the purchasing process. Deterministic intent data is one of today’s most powerful tools to reach in-market decision-makers who have already demonstrated a specific interest in the type of products or services your brand offers. By layering this capability on top of high-quality B2B contact data, you can identify and connect with these in-market prospects with precision all the way down to the device ID level.

Transparent Media Activation: Transparent media activation happens when advertisers align with trusted agency partners who have the expertise and tools to navigate the complex programmatic landscape effectively. At OMI, we use deterministic intent data to fuel more precise audience media activation for lead-gen campaigns that make use of digital advertising. Our approach is all about delivering results, and we do this by putting our clients in position to engage and activate the most accurate, targeted omni-channel prospect audiences at scale (check out this blog for more information on our transparent media activation and reporting).

Omni-channel Retargeting and Triggering: Two channels are always better than one when it comes to lead-gen that effectively connects and engages the right prospects. At OMI, we offer a “one-two punch” strategy that leverages triggered programmatic and email. By placing programmatic ads in front of prospects who have previously engaged with email content, and vice versa, you maximize the chances of conversion. Using a tailored approach to triggering, you gain increased efficiency, scalability, and targeting capabilities. There are privacy laws to consider, making execution of this approach complex, with specialized expertise around anonymized data and other factors a requirement. Our OMI team has that expertise.

AI Personalization for Email at Scale: Using GenAI to power email personalization at scale for client acquisition campaigns offers a powerful way to connect effectively with net new prospects – real people who align with your ideal customer profile. We view this tactic as a game changer and it’s something we specialize in at OMI. By combining machine learning with business firmographics and our B2B Living File® contact data, we’ve been able to streamline time-consuming processes and automate many aspects of personalization across content, images, subject lines, calls to action and more. This enables our clients to capture the attention and interest of their ideal prospects and start out on the right foot as they engage them.

B2B Thought Leadership: Results from the 2024 Edelman-LinkedIn B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report point to B2B thought leadership as a way to stimulate demand and spur “business leaders to rethink their challenges.” Considering more than half of decision-makers and C-level executives spend one or more hours per week reading thought-leadership content, getting in front of this audience can offer a competitive edge. From the study, 75% of decision-makers and C-suite executives say that a thought leadership article has led them to research a product or service they were not previously considering.

With so many new tools, resources and data options available, there's no excuse for underperforming lead-gen tactics. CMOs must take the lead in embracing innovative approaches. Reach out to our team for guidance with any of these five strategies.